Prairie State Winery

One time school teachers, Rick and Maria Mamoser decided to forgo the long commute into the suburbs for a “simpler life” as business owners. Prairie State Mercantile opened at the original location (across the street from our current location) in July, 1998. Selling finer goods, including wine, made exclusively in Illinois (The Prairie State), they were on the leading edge of the “keep it local” movement, winning multiple statewide awards for their concept.

Prairie State Winery soon followed (fall of 1999), expanding the concept by producing wines made exclusively from Illinois grown grapes. With their home wine making experience, science background, and immersion into national wine curriculum, they soon started garnering many awards for their wines as well. With the first vintage of only 500 gallons to the most recent vintages of nearly 13,000 gallons, Rick and Maria continue to promote the philosophy of “Think Globally, Drink Locally.”

All Prairie State Wines are made on location in downtown Genoa. Our production and bottling buildings are right across the street from the tasting room. Our 3000 sq. ft. production facility currently operates at a capacity of 13,000 gallons, with room to expand to 25,000 gallons. We utilize only 100% stainless steel tanks and oak barrels for all of our wines. Our gentile approach to wine making leaves our wines with nice body and fruit characters, unlike many thin, mass-produced wines in the marketplace.

We have a fully-automated bottling facility in a separate building from production. This allows a sterile, yeast-free environment in which to bottle our wines free of contaminants.